This bundle combines the Montana-based cult sandbox of Far Cry 5 with its direct post-apocalyptic sequel, Far Cry New Dawn, alongside all premium DLCs. Buy this package if you want the complete, two-part narrative arc of the Seed family, but do not play them immediately back-to-back. The bundle bridges two completely different game design philosophies: pure chaotic exploration and tiered, light-RPG resource grinding.
The Mechanical Whiplash of Hope County
Most players assume Far Cry New Dawn is just a neon-painted expansion to Far Cry 5. It is not. Buying this bundle means purchasing a front-row seat to a massive mechanical pivot in the franchise. Playing them in order causes severe gameplay whiplash if you do not know what is coming.
Far Cry 5 operates as a pure, reactive sandbox. Ubisoft famously removed the traditional radio towers for this entry. You simply pick a direction, walk into the woods, and let the chaos happen. Saving hostages, blowing up cult silos, or hunting wildlife fills a regional "Resistance Meter." The game actively rewards aimless wandering. A headshot with a basic hunting rifle will instantly drop a standard cultist. The friction comes from the sheer volume of enemies the game throws at you, culminating in forced narrative kidnappings once your meter hits specific thresholds. You are never under-leveled; you are just occasionally outgunned.
New Dawn abandons this flat power curve entirely. It introduces light-RPG mechanics that fundamentally alter how you approach combat. Enemies now have health bars and tiered ranks (Levels 1, 2, 3, and Elite). Weapons are gated by the same tier system. If you take a Tier 1 assault rifle into a fight against a Tier 3 Highwayman, you will empty three magazines into their chest to absolutely no effect.
This asymmetry defines the bundle. Far Cry 5 values geographic freedom. New Dawn values economic grinding. In the sequel, your primary goal is no longer clearing a map, but upgrading your home base, Prosperity. Upgrading Prosperity requires Ethanol, which forces you into a highly specific gameplay loop of scavenging outposts and intercepting supply drops. If you boot up New Dawn expecting the organic, "go anywhere, kill anyone" freedom of the game you just finished, the tiered health bars will feel like hitting a brick wall.
Where to Invest Your Time (and What to Skip)
The "Gold Edition" and "Deluxe Edition" labels hide a trap for completionists: this bundle contains a lot of fluff that you can safely ignore. The Far Cry 5 season pass included three wildly different DLCs. They play like B-movie pitches rather than meaningful expansions.
- Hours of Darkness: A Vietnam War stealth vignette. Worth playing. It strips away the heavy weaponry and forces you to rely on tension and quiet takedowns.
- Lost on Mars: A sci-fi shooter with floaty gravity and laser guns. Highly repetitive. Skip it unless you desperately want the overpowered alien weapons it unlocks in the main campaign.
- Dead Living Zombies: A linear, arcade-style score attack mode. Completely disconnected from the core game's appeal.
When you start Far Cry 5, ignore the DLCs and focus entirely on Prepper Stashes. These are environmental puzzles scattered across Montana. They require zero combat but reward you with massive amounts of perk points and cash. Dump your early perk points into unlocking the third weapon holster, the parachute, and the repair torch (which doubles as a silent way to open safes).
When you transition to New Dawn, your priorities must shift completely.
| Game Focus | Primary Currency | Best Early Investment | Biggest Progression Bottleneck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far Cry 5 | Perk Points | Additional Weapon Holsters | Forced story kidnappings |
| New Dawn | Ethanol | Prosperity Base Upgrades | Tiered weapon crafting |
In New Dawn, do not waste time endlessly wandering the map for scrap. Rush to unlock the Expeditions facility at your base. Expeditions are standalone, repeatable heist missions set outside of Hope County—taking you to a crashed aircraft carrier or an abandoned theme park. They are the single most efficient way to farm the rare materials needed to craft Elite-tier weapons. A single successful Expedition yields more high-end crafting materials than an hour of random map scavenging.
The Back-to-Back Burnout Trap
The greatest risk of buying a dual-game bundle is the sheer volume of repetitive action. You are purchasing roughly 60 hours of first-person shooting. More importantly, you are buying 60 hours set on the exact same map.
New Dawn takes place in a geographically condensed, post-nuclear version of Far Cry 5's Hope County. Seeing the rivers and outposts you previously liberated now covered in neon pink "superbloom" flora is a fantastic novelty for the first hour. You get to see what happened to the supporting cast you fought alongside in the previous game. But if you just spent 40 hours clearing those exact same outposts in Far Cry 5, fatigue sets in fast. The altered color palette is not enough to mask the feeling that you are retreading old ground.
This bundle serves as a fascinating bridge in the franchise's history. Far Cry 5 represents the peak of the series' traditional sandbox era, while New Dawn served as the testing ground for the heavy gear-gating and RPG mechanics that would eventually define Far Cry 6. If you are deciding between this bundle and a newer entry, know that this package offers a much stronger villain dynamic (Joseph Seed remains one of the series' best antagonists) but demands a higher tolerance for shifting game rules.
To survive the bundle without burning out, enforce a strict palate cleanser. Finish Far Cry 5. Watch the credits roll on its famously polarizing ending. Then, put the controller down and play a completely different, short, non-shooter game for a week. Let the Montana map fade from your short-term memory before you boot up New Dawn. You will appreciate the sequel's mechanical quirks much more when you aren't exhausted by its geography.
The Final Verdict
Do not treat this bundle as one massive, continuous game. Treat it as a mainline atmospheric sandbox followed by an experimental, arcade-style spin-off. Play Far Cry 5 for the emergent chaos and the narrative tension of the cult. When you move to New Dawn, accept the RPG pivot immediately—focus on farming Ethanol, upgrading your weapons to match enemy tiers, and running Expeditions, rather than trying to play it like the game you just finished.
